autoripping device

No answers for a newbie? Why?
I try to answer by myself (after many researches):
It's possible to configure a mac mini to autorip the audio cds but the alac codec used is not readable from a uniti and the mac min has no upnp server installed so...it needs some sw.
Vortexbox and Ripnas do it, so you can start downloading vortexbox and test it inside a Virtual Machine....

1. Set up a folder on your mac for your music.
2. Install XLD and set the preference to rip to FLAC to that folder
3. Download one of the many kinds of UPNP softwares out there for mac, off the top of my head: XBMC : Twonky : AMS : Eye Connect
4. Point the UPNP software to your music folder.

This will now show on the uniti. UPNP software will reguarly scan the music folder so as you add CDs your library will grow.

Thanks Garyi, do you think that the sound quality of a mac mini with the softwares you suggested will be better than vortexbox or ripnas?

I have no comment having never used a vortebox or ripnas.

Its in the ripping I guess where the importance lies, its what Patrick tells us anyhow. In which case set Paranioa on XLD so that it checks what its ripping.

You also have some playing in the OS software, goto applications>utilities and open audio-midi utility. In here you can set the native output on the mini. But obviously you need to transcode/encode your CDs appropriatly. i.e. on a standard import at 16/48 setting the output of the mini to 96/24 is not going to do much.

Some will argue that ripping the CD in XLD at 96 will give you 'headroom' for outputting even though the CD is at 48/16

Long and short it there is plenty to play with.

For myself. I am in the middle of it. With a USB DAC which is supposed to output at native 24/96 but my USB socket does not like this at all and fails.

Sort of hankering after the simple days of CD haha.

Will a Mac be better than a Vortexbox - an almost impossible question .... I achieve results that I like with a MacBook/hiFace/nDAC/555PS without using a NAS or UPnP; however I'm convinced I could get a Vortexbox with the right sound-card to sound just as good. I put the Vortexbox software on a computer I had and it impressed me.

I think the DAC and its op-amps and its DSP has far more affect on the sound than whether you stream the same bits at it from a Mac or Vortexbox. It may be different from a CD transport.

My MacBook using iTunes/DAAP to play the same file as my PowerMac sounds better to me - the only difference is when I use the PowerMac it plays through a Chordette Gem and when I use the MacBook it plays through Naim DAC/555PS - oh the amps and speakers are different too.

I do not think the source first argument applies in computer audio.

I like the iTunes interface because I can get at it and make minor edits if it doesn't catalogue things as I want - my car has a CD ripping system and if it spells something wrong you can't correct it and irritates the hell out of me.

Enjoyed using Macs to rip, organise and serve my music but the sound quality of my Naimuniti changed all that.

Taking the music to a dedicated server UnitiServe, Vortexbox, Thecus or RipNas is the next step.

Tog

quote:

Originally posted by Tog:
Enjoyed using Macs to rip, organise and serve my music but the sound quality of my Naimuniti changed all that.

Taking the music to a dedicated server UnitiServe, Vortexbox, Thecus or RipNas is the next step.

Tog

How come ? Given a decent rip the Mac will sound the same as the others running as a UPnP server ?

James

quote:

Given a decent rip the Mac will sound the same as the others running as a UPnP server

+1

The lack of aiff or alac streaming to the Uniti (although I think that will come) and the dependance on eyeconnect - although to be fair I am using my dealers machine whilst waiting for my n- stream equipped model to arrive. Anyone tried n-stream with eyeconnect?

tog